The 1931 — Restaurant in Cincinnati

I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. I had the most humiliating experience at a restaurant, and I've never been treated this way before. My friends and I were a group of four, and we had a reservation for 8:30 pm. When we made the booking, we saw that there was another reservation for 9:00 pm, so we figured everything would be fine. We were all excited to try the new recipes, enjoy the ambiance, and have a fun time together.

However, we were a little late—about five minutes—so we called ahead to let the restaurant know, and they assured us it was no problem. When we arrived, the hostess seated us in the dining area, gave us the menus, and even poured us some water. But then, things took a strange turn. She came back and told us the dining area was "closed" and we had to move to the bar area. We confirmed that we had a reservation and that others were coming later, and she said she'd check again. Shortly after, a short, elderly man came to our table and told us we needed to leave or move to the bar area. He also said that the bar had a different menu and we couldn’t order from the dining area menu.

At this point, things were getting pretty weird. But we decided to respect their policies and moved to the bar. Then, a bar server came to us and asked why we had been moved. He said it was fine for us to stay in the dining area. We were confused and frustrated, especially since the restaurant was almost empty and there were so many open tables. He went away to speak to his manager, and a few minutes later, he returned and told us we could go back to the dining area.

Now we were completely baffled. We were annoyed and uncomfortable. We even asked the server if the management was being discriminatory, and he bluntly said, "Yes." After that, the manager came over, apologizing and saying he'd take care of us for the rest of the evening. He tried to make things right, but just as we thought things were being handled, the elderly man returned in a very creepy manner and started explaining the menu to us, even though the manager was already taking care of us. The manager firmly told him to leave, and at that point, we felt so uncomfortable that we decided to leave the restaurant without ever having a meal.

While the restaurant had a lovely aesthetic, I cannot believe they would hire staff who treated us so poorly, especially in such a discriminatory and racist manner. The server at the bar and the manager were both people of color, which makes it even more shocking. We went to the restaurant looking forward to an upscale dining experience, but they completely ruined it for us. We ended up walking for a long distance to find another restaurant since most were already closed by the time we left.

To be honest, even if we had stayed, I don't think we could have trusted the food after the way we were treated. This restaurant is a definite no-go for me. If there were an option to give zero...

This is a follow up to a prior review I posted and is after experiencing Orchids for a second time just last week. Executive Chef Todd Kelly showed my wife and I just how much they care about the customer experience and ensuring top notch quality. We had previously visited to celebrate my wife's birthday where there were several food allergy concerns and mistakes. Chef Kelly not only apologized but invited us to please come back and give them another shot to show that they had fixed their process and ensure we had the wonderful experience we had missed out on the first go round. They were excellent with their food allergy care and the overall experience was superb, we experienced the 5 course menu with wine tasting and it easily tied with the top meals we have ever experience anywhere....and that holds a lot of weight as we have traveled extensively and eaten in the finest restaraunts in the world from New York to Paris and beyond...Orchids matched them all in experience, service, care, and quality and presentation of the food and wine. Food was delicious, the wine pairings were spot on, and the attentive service from Michael, Joel and the entire staff (you are literally waited on by 5-6 staff members throughout your night) was special and caring. We will be back in the future and bringing friends!

Original Review Excellent Meal, Luxurious...but poor food allergy care, use caution! I took my wife to Orchids for her 35th birthday this past weekend and the food, service and experience were top notch, as you would expect from a 5 diamond restaurant. The ambiance of the Palm Court in the Hilton hotel is superb, soaring 30' foot ceilings with huge gilded age metal decor, wall murals, and elegant light fixtures are something straight out of the 1920's high society and really make you feel like you are dining somewhere special. The service then is top notch, extremely attentive, and makes you feel special, Michael was especially wonderful, and you will get served by a handful of other staff as well so you never are left waiting for...

The atmosphere was beautiful and peaceful, though chilly. The large room was mostly empty and had plenty of tables of all sizes. It would have been nice to at least been offered a seat by the live piano player (one of the reasons we came) but instead we were seated about as far from the music as possible and out of sight of the stage. All of those tables remained empty the entire visit. The server was nice and friendly, but the kitchen timing was off. We were obviously not looking for a rushed meal and they were not very busy but our 2 drinks took quite a while to come out (10+min). The drinks were eh, okay but definitely not worth the over $20 each prices. Especially the apple pie drink. We sipped on those and sat on the last sips to try with our meal for a while before our appetizers came out (especially because the apple pie drink needed a chaser), but I'll give them that because I ordered French Onion Soup. The soup and salad were very good. Our entrees came out while we were still eating the soup & salad and shoved onto the tiny table. Later we had to ask them to take the soup & salad dishes away midway through eating the entrees so we could have some space. The Verlasso Salmon dish was excellent though the potatoes were bland and could have used some rosemary, herbs de provance, or something. The chicken was excellent and all dietary restrictions were followed. Our desserts were brought but the empty cocktail and entree dishes were left. We flagged down the server to take the empty dishes. The desserts were excellent. The single gentleman next to us had extremely slow service. Long stretches between appetizer, entree, and dessert. After he finished he waited quite a while for the server and eventually had to flag her down to get his bill, which also took quite a bit of work. The bathrooms were nice and...